Crashes comparison before and after speed control cameras installation: case studies on rural roads in Lithuania and Italy

Abstract

The study focused on the appraisal of the effectiveness of fixed speed control cameras regarding the reduction in crashes on the main study road in Lithuania. The task is to install the same technical reliable and validated solutions on homogeneous road sections in Italy that reflect the same geometric, traffic features as well as driver speed behaviour than those observed in Lithuania. The case studies were Via Baltica in Lithuania and S.P.430 in the Southern Italy. Three main roads belong to Via Baltica (A5, A8, A10) where a total of 191 crashes occurred during five years (2009−2013) of study with 276 injuries and 69 deaths. A total of five fixed speed cameras were placed on A5 road, two on A8 road and four on A10 road. After the installation of the speed control cameras, it was observed in two years a reduction in the number of crashes with deaths (51%) and injuries (27%) as well as a decrease in the crash rate values (19%). The case study in Italy was S.P.430 that consists of fourteen homogeneous road sections on basis of the curvature change rate evaluation and administrative government. A total of 138 crashes with 246 injuries and 20 deaths were recorded in 2009−2013 on a total length of 73 km almost. According to Italian methodology based on the calculation of crash rates for homogeneous road sections, the crash levels have been associated with each study road section. It was observed that 79% of the sections are characterized by a low crash level and the remaining 21% by a severe crash level. S.P.430 road sections with a severe crash level are potential locations with speed control cameras. As speed control cameras are missing in S.P. 430, there si no a remarkable reduction in the number of the crashes during the years as happened in Lithuania by similar infrastructural, land context, driver speed behaviour features between two cases study.